MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko successfully returned to the sport after a three-year hiatus on New Year’s Eve at Rizin FF by defeating Indian kickboxer Jaideep Singh. That fight, however, was not a one-off affair.
Speaking with rsport.ru (h/t BloodyElbow.com‘s Karim Zidan), Emelianenko expressed his desire to return to the cage in April 2016. “The next fight is scheduled for April,” he said. “In my opinion, it will be here in Japan, in cooperation with the company Rizin … For me it would be convenient to enter the ring in April, four months to relax a bit and with new team before preparing for the next battle.”
It is interesting how Emelianenko phrases that announcement while qualifying it with an “in my opinion.” According to BloodyElbow.com, Emelianenko‘s contract was for two fights, with his bout with Singh being the only one that is completely hammered out. The second fight was labeled as a “tentative agreement” and, given the history of Emelianenko‘s commendably uncompromising management team, it’s possible the two parties are poised for a heated renegotiation session.
“They never signed a contract they didn’t want to renegotiate,” said former Strikeforce President Scott Coker of Emelianenko‘s management team in a 2013 interview with Bleacher Report. “That was one of my personal issues with them. Why not honor the contract that you signed?”
That sentiment was also echoed by former Strikeforce matchmaker Rich Chou around the same time. “There were times we were certainly frustrated. Things didn’t flow as smoothly as we’d like,” he said. “It wasn’t a perfect world, that’s for sure. But that’s the fight game.”
That said, don’t expect Emelianenko to start flirting with the UFC and Bellator quite yet. While details are scant, Rizin‘s next show is scheduled for April 17, 2016. With Emelianenko expressing his desire to fight around that time, expect the Last Emperor to once again be placed front-and-center for Rizin FF.
Unfortunately, precedent suggests that Emelianenko‘s name and the date are all fans will have to work with until late March, at the earliest. Rizin officials did not confirm that Emelianenko‘s opponent would be Singh until December 17, just 14 days before the bout’s scheduled date. While that may have been an anomaly, Emelianenko‘s next foe was reportedly supposed to be announced Friday, and that has not yet materialized.
Despite that, Rizin‘s debut was largely a hit with MMA fans. The two events featured a slew of memorable names and several memorable fights. While there were a few stumbles (most notably ugly bouts like Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Shinya Aoki and Bob Sapp vs. Akebono Taro), it was still an entertaining card that compared favorably to Japanese classics.
It will be fun to see if they can pull it off again, and whether or not it gets broadcasted stateside.
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